During Saturday qualifying it was Sete Gibernau who took his first pole position of the year with a time of 1:59.710, followed by Marco Melandri in second and Loris Capirossi in third place.

[3] The second row of the grid consists out of John Hopkins, Nicky Hayden and finally Valentino Rossi in fourth, fifth and sixth position.

As the lights go out, Hopkins blasts past Melandri and then Gibernau, who goes wide entering Turn 1 to take a surprise lead on the opening lap.

At Turn 8, Rossi also makes quick work of Melandri by going down his inside and effortlessly passing the Movistar Honda rider for fourth place.

Hopkins then makes a mistake at Turn 12, going wide and gifting Roberts Jr. the lead and Rossi second place.

[6][7] Gibernau also goes slightly wide, granting Toni Elías - who had worked his way up the field - just enough space to steal fourth place away from him.

Exiting the swooping Turn 13, Biaggi and Melandri both overtake Hopkins coming up to the long straight, making good use of their superior Honda top speed to pass the Suzuki effortlessly.

Barros also manages to overtake van den Goorbergh for eleventh, with Troy Bayliss trying likewise but the Dutchman holding him off at Turn 16.

Hopkins goes up the inside of Melandri for sixth at the end of the long straight, with Jacque and Van den Goorbergh right behind the battling duo.

[6] Lap five and Rossi is now slowly closing the gap to Roberts Jr. 'The Doctor' has a little moment as he touches the white line at Turn 5 but doesn't lose any time or positions from it.

Exiting Turn 9, Jacque has a big moment, almost causing him to crash but somehow holds on and doesn't lose a place.

On lap eight, the top nine is as follows: Rossi, Gibernau, Biaggi, Jacque, Van den Goorbergh, Melandri, Barros, Hayden and Capirossi.

Biaggi tries to lunge at his inside at Turn 1 but isn't able to, allowing Jacque to now ride away and hunt down Gibernau for second position.

Exiting Turn 13, Jacque gets on the kerb and has a bit of a wobble but doesn't crash or lose places.

He is right behind Van den Goorbergh but runs his bike wide at Turn 6, making him lose ground to the Dutchman.

It is on this lap that Jacque has also finally managed to pass Gibernau for second position, now setting his sights for race leader Rossi.

[6] Lap sixteen and the top nine consists out of Rossi, Jacque, Gibernau, Biaggi, Van den Goorbergh, Melandri, Hayden, Hopkins and Edwards, who does not seem to have any engine problems.

On lap seventeen, Melandri shadows Biaggi, then makes a move by outbreaking him at Turn 6, taking fourth.

Gibernau crosses the line a distant third and is shaking his head, either out of disappointment or to get rid of some of the water on his helmet.

Gibernau crosses the line in fourth, Biaggi in fifth and the other replacement rider Van den Goorbergh finishes in a great sixth place.

[6][7] On the parade lap back to parc fermé, Rossi stops for some of his fans - who invaded the track - at the outside of Turn 2 to celebrate his win.

Gibernau meanwhile has parked up his stricken Gresini Honda at the armco barrier at the end of the start/finish straight before Turn 1, looking at his bike chain to figure out what the problem is, then walks over to the pits.

Melandri is the first rider to arrive at parc fermé, being awaited by two of his Gresini Honda crewmembers, one of which hugs him for his achievement.

Finally, Rossi also arrives and jubilantly puts his arms in air as two Gauloises Yamaha crewmembers hug and congratulate him.

Rossi then talks to his team and salutes his fans by looking into the camera and doing a peace sign, showing off the rubber gloves he has on.

Rossi takes off his helmet, kisses the camera screen in glee, then goes over to a group of fans at parc fermé to hug them also.